Visiting Mérida, Mexico for Festival de las Ánimas
Founded in 1542, Mérida is the vibrant capital of the Mexican state of Yucatán.
J and I were excited to visit for the Festival of Souls (Festival de las Ánimas), which promised to blend the mystical, emotional, and artistic past of Mayan culture with the present. It’s Mérida’s equivalent of Day of the Dead. We were also excited to enjoy the Yucatan food, friendly people, and safe, walkable colonial core.
My Spanish is basic, but I was able to function without speaking English for most of the trip, thought I certainly butchered genders and conjugation.
While I mention some food specifically, nearly every day we ate delicious Yucatan-style cuisine and tropical fruit sorbets.
Tuesday
Our flight was two, two hour legs with a long layover in Houston for around 12 hours of transit time. We arrived around 6pm at MID airport, went through customs and immigration, got some efectivo from the ATM, and paid a fixed cab fare from a counter in the arrivals hall. Within 15 minutes, we were in the center of town at our rental house.
The historic core of Mérida is fairly large, with long blocks of contiguous buildings that butt right up to the sidewalks with a fortress-like posture. They are all colorfully painted, with various levels of ornamentation and wear and tear. Plenty of them are missing roofs and seemingly abandoned or turned into parking lots behind the facade, though even more have been cared for or remodeled in a uniquely Mexican modern style.
Our rental house was unassuming from the street. Only one room wide, it transitioned from living room, to kitchen, to an open air dining area in a private courtyard with tropical plants and pool, to a two story section in the back with two bedrooms and bathrooms. It was beautiful and a joy to just sit and admire the structure from the courtyard.
We dropped our bags and headed out for Yucatan style dinner and Plaza Grande.
The main shrine at Plaza Grande.
Arch by the main cathedral.
Cathedral crest.
Empty market.
The town was bustling with visitors from home and abroad. We had our first tastes of the local food from Chaya Maya: relleno negro with turkey meat, sopa de lima, and two tacos. To drink: fresh, affordable margaritas, and our first taste of agua de chaya with fruit juice. This green drink ended up being a fixture at all of our meals.
At the plaza, we got guava and mamey sorbets from Dulcería and sorbetería Colón.
On the walk home, we watched couples dancing at the plaza by our rental house.
Wednesday
After a restful sleep without cats, we got coffee and cinnamon rolls from a nearby cafe run by two friendly young women.
We took a long walk around town to see the 3 remaining road archways, the bustling main market area around Mercado San Benito, then ate a Yucatan lunch.
After an afternoon rest, we walked down the fancy feeling Calle 47 to have dinner at Sandunga. The restaurant served kick-ass Oaxacan food, and I was delighted to have mole negro, guac with dried beef, and a mezcal cocktail.
Our courtyard
J and the decorative wall.
Our unassuming entrance (the pink building).
Driveway/breezeway at the local cafe.
Iron address.
Corner entrance.
Tiled.
Bike parking.
Cool deco building.
Dimensional signage.
Beetle.
Pimp my tuktuk.
Overgrown.
Superman’s other favorite city.
Cathedral interior.
Cathedral exterior.
Oranges.
Main market building.
It’s like a meat market in here.
Meat from above.
J in the empty second second floor.
View from the second floor.
A man bags black paste.
Rambutans.
Back of a produce hall.
One room wide, but a block long.
Side of the narrow building.
Mamey sorbet.
Courtyard of the governor’s place.
Shrine.
Mural room.
Lunch.
Beseme mucho.
Mysterious curves.
Old and older.
Doors within doors.
Quiet street.
Pebble surfacing.
Arco.
Small cutout.
Another mysterious building.
Thursday
After breakfast at the nearby cafe, we walked up Paseo de Montejo to admire the old mansions, eat another breakfast, and see Monumento a La Patria.
For lunch, we ate at the nearby Manjar Blaco. The food was delicious and the large outdoor dining area was shaded and beautiful. Unfortunately, a man on a phone was making an endless Spanish monologue within earshot for most of the meal.
After lunch, we walked to Parque La Plancha, a large modern park built over a former train yard.
That evening, we went to Parque de San Juan to check out the festival sculptures lit up.
Bone ornaments.
Alto.
Cool gate.
Decorative.
Heavy duty latch.
Mysterious canopy frame.
Yellow mansion.
Walkway.
Walkway in reverse.
Monumento a La Patria
Pumpkin and plumeria.
Vulture.
White mansion.
Chaya juice and mezacalina.
Relleno negro.
Chochinita pibil tacos.
Resturant shrine.
Parroquia Santa Ana.
Lavender.
Bike path and cornmeal factory.
Fancy.
Roof plants.
Night bust.
Night sculpture.
San Juan park at night.
Neon.
The gateway.
Doesn’t look it, but perfectly safe.
Soulful posing.
Friday
On Friday, we took a longer walk to a fancier breakfast bakery. I tried chilaquiles, which are basically breakfast nachos. They were tasty, though near the end of the meal I found a piece of the building that had fallen into my bowl.
After breakfast, we took a long walk towards the General Cemetery, stopping midway to rest and rehydrate at a fancy hotel.
The main entrance to the cemetery was buzzing with activity to get ready for the evening parade, but the rest of the sprawling area was dead quiet other than guard lizards.
We took a bumpy Uber ride back to rest.
Cool logo.
Truck with parts.
Chilaquiles
Cactus doorways.
Budget hotel entrance.
Grand Plaza plant layers.
Calle 66 in parade prep mode.
Temporary speakers.
Tombs.
Budget tombs.
The living and the dead.
Mr. Fancypants.
Cemetery lizard.
Lovebirds.
In the late afternoon, we walked to Parque de San Juan. It was busy with people making shrines. After some digging, we realized that the parade actually started at the cemetery, so we walked to the cemetery for the second time that way. The streets were mostly closed for parade preparations.
At Parque de La Ermita de Santa Isabel, J got her face painted as a skull. I declined due to how much I was already sweating.
From the park on, the whole street was bustling with vendors getting ready and families putting the finishing touches on their memorial shrines.
As the sun set, we found a spot on the bleachers at the beginning of the parade route. We people watched for two hours until the procession began. It was beautiful to see so many souls honoring the dead.
Snack cart.
One of many face painting stations.
Police shrine.
Getting darker.
Family shrine.
Final shrine prep.
J and the ghoul.
Garage.
The parade is about about to begin.
Bored souls.
J.
The Mayan ball players.
Souls.
Souls.
Souls.
Souls.
Souls.
Souls.
Joining the procession.
About where it started getting too crowded for us.
At the end of the parade, everyone joined in the procession. The sea of people flowed in all directions and J and I had to move to the side streets when it started feeling claustrophobic.
Saturday
Breakfast at nearby cafe. Lunch inside Mercado Municipal No 2 Santos Degollado at the popular Taqueria La Lupita. Their slow-roasted cochinata pibil tacos are delicious.
That evening, we watched night bikers on the closed lanes of Paseo de Montejo, then grabbed an early dinner and some cocktails before an unexpected parade (to us) began on Calle 47. This parade was less somber, and had a variety of different themes, livelier music, and more of a block party feel.
They don’t mess around with mosquito exploders down here.
Waiting for our market tacos.
Deco blue.
J and the lot.
A popular snack that we never had appetite to try.
Living vocabulary cards.
Dancing skeletons.
Sunday
On Sunday, we rented some crusty but cheap bikes and enjoyed the route of closed streets from the grand plaza to the Parque La Plancha. Apparently this is a weekly event.
Mosaic flamingo.
Old video store.
Dot pattern.
Tiny house.
Abandoned kitchen.
Cool bunker style building.
Lattice.
Promenade.
Ground wires.
Black ceramics.
Stuffed squash.
Making tortillas.
About to uncover the pork.
Cutting the cochinita pibil.
Monday
Monday was mostly a day of rest. After a week of walking miles every day, my chafed thighs and sore feet needed it.
Modern.
Not modern.
Castle style.
Car jail.
Like totally futuristic, dude.
There were a lot of tiny cars with full size ladders on the roof, but this was one of the bigger ones.
Tortilla store.
Tuesday
Our pre-booked Uber picked us up at 5:40am for the airport. Despite warnings of security delays in Houston, our travel day home was long but uneventful.
Other than to snuggle with our pets, talk fluently to people and flush toilet paper, I was sad to be home.
We’re excited to return to Mérida. Though next time, I plan on renting a car to explore the numerous Mayan ruins, cenotes, the beach, and small towns in the region.
I miss your travel posts and photos. So enjoyed Merida!
November 9th, 2025 at 2:51 pm